


monochrome

by WhimsicalSparky



Category: Vocaloid
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Double Yandere, Drama, F/M, Horror, KaiMiku, Kaleidoscope, Lenku, Metaphors, Obsessive Behavior, One-Sided Love, Romance, Semi-graphic violence, Strange Plot, Unrequited Love, Yandere Len, Yandere Miku
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-05
Updated: 2017-09-05
Packaged: 2018-12-24 06:50:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12007341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimsicalSparky/pseuds/WhimsicalSparky
Summary: Someone had to break first to draw the other close and strengthen the link. / Tale of a desperate girl in love, a kind-hearted knight and a boy who tries opening the girl's eyes - there's no happy ending in this. — lenku. one-sided kaimiku.





	monochrome

He knew it was always like this - they would avoid each other, fall with each other, with the same fascination. For each other. She didn't understand him. He didn't understand her. And so they would cling to each other, making out any differences between them - seeing if something changed since last time, since yesterday. Meeting after school, with similar sparkling eyes and touch and touch, until their hearts were up to flames and warmth made patterns on their skins.

They barely understood what love was, but were convinced that what they felt was love. She was more desperate than him, often begging him to not leave her and whispering I love you's to him, while he, in the other end, was more reluctant in saying it back. But he did anyways, and promised to cherish and protect her, though he did not know why he said that.

Someone had to break first to draw the other close and strengthen the link. No words were needed, as he noticed a subtle change in her eyes. A slightly brighter light, a slightly more intense fire. He saw the desire and insecurity beyond the green. Something in him sparked into life and rooted itself within his heart, a distortion occurring slowly inside his mind. They were friends but not anymore.

She changed and it led to his own change.

But then (as he secretly expected) that transfer student appeared. He was wonderful, a kind-hearted knight whose sword was a blinding smile. His hair was like the sea, deep blue and swaying gently with the breeze. Crashing in waves over his pearly white forehead. Brilliant, precious sapphires to make the eyes. His armor was pure white, details in gold and blue. A light blue scarf to shield his sensitive neck.

She'd decided first, before he could feel pink warmth reaching his cheeks. Scarlet embarrassment bloomed in her, and she doubted of her love for him. A feeling of worthlessness birthed and contaminated her fragile spirit - he felt her tremble in his arms, crying in his chest, and seethed because Kaito was the cause of her suffering. He fingered her pale back, feeling that secret mark Kaito had left in her.

He had scarred her.

How dared he?

He forced this fire within her; Len couldn't forgive him. There was no space for two hearts inside of Miku. It wasn't supposed to exist two overlapping, different marks - only his could make her shiver in delight. He wasn't sure if what he felt was possessiveness, yet it was close and that was everything he needed to know and feel. She sobbed and he comforted her again and again.

Kaito was not enough. Would never be enough. She needed someone endlessly gentle. Soft hands, smooth palms, harmless nails. Someone who could lift the heavy weight crushing her before it could send her over the edge definitely. Someone who could add color to the black and white infinity that was her life.

Someone like Len.

 

.

 

.

  
He became friends with Kaito in a blink. When the first complications with the language came, Len popped in, with the lame excuse of knowing how difficult his situation could be sometimes and wanting to help him.

After this point it escalated quickly, and Len saw himself discussing trivial things like the life Kaito had, annoying teachers, siblings. They laughed together, but his wasn't genuine. Quietly Len studied his new friend, tearing the flesh from the bones and checking each tiny flaw. His midnight blue eyes shone subtly when he had the verdict.

Kaito wasn't enough.

Like he'd thought.

Miku was still unaware of these flaws. Len deemed such knowledge as meaningless for someone like her; possibilities and questions and complaints would birth in her mind, all unnecessary. Any stress coming from this wasn't needed, so he left her ignorant.

(Besides she would probably think that he was trying to ruin her chances with the knight of blue hair.)

After school, he pulled her to a tight embrace and stayed there for minutes, letting her scent intoxicate him. She didn't want to come at first, but was accepting him anyways. The uniform was too thick to let her heart melt through, but he still could feel her soft heartbeats, skipping. Fear of betrayal. Kaito's or hers, he wasn't sure. Even if invisible to most people, her marks inflicted by him glowed with placid shades of white.

But he checked her again and narrowed his eyes. A foreign mark (Kaito's) hissed under his fingertips, colored an alarming red. Mark of a complete stranger, staining his Miku's beauty.

Her skin was littered with little butterfly kisses (his kisses), what was enough to keep his urges under control. Just looking at that minuscule sign that Kaito may had touched her a little tighter than he should and imprinted crescent moons in her arm set him on fire, but he wouldn't allow to be bothered by worry and jealousy.

Len let it slide.

For now.

 

.

 

.

  
One Friday he walked Miku home when he saw Kaito. He was alone, for some reason he didn't know nor care, and the blonde tightened his grip in her hand. She winced yet remained quiet.

Kaito noticed them and turned, offering another of his kind smiles to Miku. In the corner of his eye, Len saw her blushing. He bit the inside of his cheek, his stomach churning at this outrageous situation. If Miku was a pretty tulip with a smooth stem and velvet white petals, then Kaito was the gardener with delicate hands and a sharp, shining sickle.

And Len was a beautiful rose with pitch black petals and deadly thorns.

"Miku, hello." Kaito greeted and went to stand uncomfortably close to her. She took a step back out of instinct and giggled nervously.

"Hey, uh, Kaito. I'm surprised to see you here." She offered a smile as an apology. He was more hesitant to accept, but was nonetheless smiling back. Len watched them exchanging glances, sapphire blue and bright green flickering gleefully.

Midnight blue, however, glinted dangerously, pupils resembling the sharp, thin edge of a knife, as Len glowered at Kaito. If only looks could kill...

"Ah, I live here. I don't think if you noticed, but..."

They made small talk as Len contributed as third wheel and maintaining a necessary silence, for the sake of their... friendly chat. Pretending that he didn't exist, that he wasn't there holding her hand, was an insult. He could feel her soul writhing happily over this new person, this transfer student.

(When would it be enough for her, this girl so greedy? Needy and desperate. Heh, he could only laugh at her failures in seeking love in the wrong people.)

A pause happened and they finally parted ways; Kaito had to look after his little sister, so he politely apologized and disappeared into the house, the door closing shut behind him. Len heard her whimpering. The marks were humming, glowing scarlet and black.

"What do you want from him, anyways?" he clicked his tongue, expecting her answer to be pathetic. He tried biting his tongue to stop himself from speaking, but he still did.

"Huh, what- Len, what are you talking about?" she glanced at him, green eyes widened. Confusion might be clouding her eyes, but her lip was quivering - she understood him enough to read the lines, and he understood her enough to hear the lies her mouth spewed.

"Stay away from him."

Miku flinched and gasped, "The heck- Who are you to tell me what to do?!"

"He doesn't love you. Won't love you."

"How can you be so sure?"

Midnight blue and bright green clashed, swirling in black and white. She was lying to herself to protect her heart; he could feel her fear rattling in her bones, could feel his own shaking angrily within his heart. A flame tried to spark into life, but he didn't allow it, because the last thing he wanted to do was harming her.

She was a tulip, he was a rose. They might have nothing in common, but their roots were still interwoven. His frozen heart (a trap for ignorant maidens) called her warm one (easily toyed with and manipulated by emotions). She was not the prize of some game, but if it was needed to play to have her, he would use every trick in his sleeves to win it and her.

"I don't want you to get hurt, my Miku. How can't I be concerned when he - this transfer student - clearly isn't enough? You know he isn't." He tried reasoning with her. It didn't work.

She ripped her hand from his - this fire wasn't hers. This, Len mused, wasn't her. Somewhere, deep inside, his Miku existed and was calling for him. He didn't bother complaining about her harshness.

She roared, "These lies of yours won't trick me. I don't belong to you! Just leave me alone, damnit!" she cursed and denied his claim. The damage was worse than he thought.

She was crumbling, pieces of her soul scattered across Len's feet, catching sunlight and grey-colored despair. He gathered them all and stored inside his heart. He would need them once she realized the illusions and came back to him - the one who was real. It was a matter of time. Her words did try to pierce through him, but the daggers left no scratch in his fair skin.

He grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at him. She struggled, yelled, nearly punched him, before finally losing her will and stopping to listen to him. "There is no happy ending in chasing someone like him. If that's what you want, go on - I won't stop you, but you will be disappointed. Either way, I'll be here to catch you when you fall."

He released her and left, letting the warning sink in. He was not possessive (he wasn't sure if he was), so if her wish was to fall in love with shadows vaguely resembling themselves and to break once the pretty reality of colorful lights shatter, it was fine by him. He was not a hypocrite; he had his moments of caressing mirages, blowing kisses to shadows, breathing sweet, poisonous mist in this monochrome prison of sunlight and warmth.

And she was who saved him from destroying himself when his mirror shattered and his image (perceived love) turned against him, clawing at his neck. She was who held the flash of light to dissolve the illusions before he was corrupted beyond repair.

He was just repaying the favor.

The curtain rose, revealing her fragile frame tied by thin cutting wire, singing for a star too far from her (from them).

He certainly would be there to catch her when the wire snapped.

 

.

 

.

  
In the past, when the world wasn't monochrome and their hearts weren't parasitic, they used to smile together.

Before they knew, time passed and they changed - their bodies changed. Suddenly they weren't those carefree children who teased each other and played pranks whenever they could, but teenagers. Teenagers with slender bodies and faces often marred with acne and carnal urges. The realization came when they hugged after school, and he felt her soft bosom pressing against his chest and she felt his chin touching the top of her head.

And those were the things: she had a bosom and he was taller than her.

Miku used to be flat. Len used to be short.

Somewhere they managed to find each other in the maze. They didn't know each other anymore, so they'd decided to learn once again. Something bubbled in the pit of their stomachs, stirring. If the world was to separate them, it would hardly succeed by now.

If it did succeed, she would take a piece of him with her.

Their scars underneath the skin matched, completing each other. And whenever a stranger tried to imprint their scents in their clothes and mark them as theirs, their unforgiving hearts would eliminate them.

They could forget the affection they had shared for a while, but soon the foolish one would crawl back begging for forgiveness for the other, who stayed. And they would forgive one another.

She forgave him when he strayed away. It was only fair if he forgave her back - and he would.

(Once the threat was gone.)

 

.

 

.

  
"Oh. You want to confess like this, my Miku?"

The love letter. His fingertips fluttered against the green-colored envelope, the cursive writing saying 'For Kaito'. He had read the content and was greatly disappointed - she was going with it, unfortunately. He shook his head. Didn't matter; she would realize the mistake soon.

Miku had just finished it. It smelled of some cheap perfume, what disgusted him. He grabbed it once she was gone to eat a snack. She didn't know. Shouldn't know. This - the letter or the love? He didn't know which one - wasn't supposed to exist.

Len lit up a match and burned the letter, watching the yellow flames consuming it completely. Reducing fake love to ashes. It was better this way, before an irreversible mistake happened. The charred remains now smelled of smoke, and he grinned mockingly.

Miku came back shortly after the deed was done and screamed at him for burning it. Cried over it. He glared at her - she was foolish for believing, for thinking there was a happy ending for her beyond a silly confession. What she hoped to achieve in chasing this boy? Meaningless promises of love whispered to her while he betrayed her with dozens of empty-headed girls.

Regardless of what she growled at him or how many times she writhed over this unrequited love, her fate was already set in stone. Doomed to a bad ending. No happily-ever-afters. Reality didn't work the way fairytales did, and she of all people should know it. But love is blind - it blinds people - and he of all people knew it.

There was no happy endings.

 

.

 

.

  
"Miku, I'm sorry..."

He was watching it from afar, how she stumbled back and laughed awkwardly at the failed attempt of a confession she had said. Kaito slashed her with that even sharper sword of his in form of an apologetic smile. Rubies dripped from her heart, soul shattering into thousands of pieces. He could feel the thick silence in the hallway, like anticipating a disaster.

He was too late, yet didn't regret it. She would know how painful it was to stray too far from his sight like he did before. She would feel it and learn from it.

She shakily smiled; crystalline tears ready to fall, heartbreak hidden behind the dull green. She pressed a fist on her chest, where her heart must be aching. He did warn her, but what's done was done, he mused as the foreign marks in her skin bled - she was bleeding everywhere.

She chuckled her misery and said, "Ah... I see. Maybe we don't know each other enough, so...what if we took it slowly?"

Spineless. She was pathetically trying to mend her feelings with something as desperate as this. She couldn't lie to herself; she was choking, choking, dying, and the cutting wire was digging deeply into her arms and neck, blood seeping from the wounds.

Kaito bit his bottom lip, stuttered, and tried to smile. His sword was blunt, couldn't reflect light like before. The waves of deep blue were dragging her away, away, away, and it was all Kaito's fault. Len recognized his attempts in sparing her the pain, but he was doing it too hesitantly - awfully - and it wasn't working.

"I'm sorry, Miku, but... I don't think so. I only see you as a sister."

The sword dug deeper, her back arching as if spreading her (blood-stained, beaten up) wings. Miku choked a laugh, and Kaito rubbed his neck awkwardly.

"We can be friends, if you want."

A definite, crushing bad ending, like Len expected. She cringed at his proposal - suddenly the kind-hearted knight wasn't so kind as she thought. He snickered at the sight of her beautiful illusions cracking and shattering before her and her silently begging them to come back. It was hilarious, like she had described to him.

Now it was his turn to laugh.

Miku walked away without replying Kaito, leaving a trail of destroyed dreams and blood in her wake.

The blue-haired boy buried his face in his hands, groaning and sighing. Len approached him and asked if he was okay (as if he cared when he damaged her, when he hurt her). "I feel horrible. But it was better than lying to her." He murmured, lifting his head to look directly at Len. His eyes were dry.

His frozen heart jumped and shook furiously. His gaze hardened, yet either Kaito didn't notice or ignored his rage. His sword didn't hurt him at all; he was long used to blades hidden behind smiles, words and eyes.

"It's just- I like someone else and she... I really didn't want to disappoint her or break her heart. Maybe I should apologize or buy her ice cream or both..." he said, but didn't mean it. "I'm sorry for her. I truly am. You know it, don't you, Len?"

"Yeah." Len hummed mostly to himself. He closed his eyes, focusing in the flash of light flickering in his (and Miku's) monochrome kaleidoscope. Blacks and whites swirling together, creating boring greys gleaming like knives.

Black, white, grey. Shades of blue wasn't necessary where she lived - only yellow and teal could shine. Any additional colors should vanish before the worse happened.

"How dare you break my Miku?"

His snarl exploded at his face, and Kaito stumbled back exactly like Miku did. But it was different - a different cause, more worth defending than a doomed romance. Midnight blue darkened into frightening, soul-sucking black. An equally colored feeling birthed within his frozen heart. He was craving to cut him open and seek what she saw in this worthless knight, and then rip this empty heart out of the armor and ribcage and show it to her, shouting every flaw in it - in him.

Len grabbed his things and her backpack slumped in a corner and stormed off, ignoring the shouts of, "Len, I didn't mean it! I swear I didn't!" because people such as him only told lies and broke delicate spirits such as hers.

 

.

 

.

  
He knew where to find her - the music room. The same place they'd touched each other several times and lost themselves in a flurry of clashing emotions and exchanged pleasures. Their butterflies were forever stuck inside this room, dyed in sunset colors and fluttering their tiny wings, seeking freedom. It was there where they went when they were distressed, where they held hands and shared kisses.

It was there where he escaped to when the geek girl - Gumi - rejected him.

He opened the door, revealing her sitting on a table. Face buried in her knees promptly hugged close to her chest. Pitiful. Len took the pieces from his heart to begin rebuilding her. She flinched when he touched her shoulder and looked up, cheeks glimmering with fresh tears.

"Len..." she whimpered.

His gaze softened. This was Miku - his Miku. The gentle girl with a warm heart and overly soft hands. Dainty as a princess. The marks disappeared and only the ones that were his remained. The wire snapped and she fell and screamed and suffered the injuries, but he managed to stand in the right spot at the right time and caught her before she crashed onto the floor.

He sat beside her and pulled her into his arms, whispering, "As I said, he isn't enough. There's no space for another in our lives."

A scream erupted from her throat. Fists flew towards his chest, but her strength was vanishing too fast, so her pace slowed and the pain became small stings. Miku, as desperate and emotional as she was, wouldn't stop until she was utterly drained. He could wait till then.

"You told him. You drove him away from me." She hissed, grazing his chest through the shirt with her nails. She was seeking that part that wasn't his - to take it from his body and return to where it rightfully belonged. Black in her eyes, white in her hands, teal in her hair. She growled, "You did it. He... he..."

"He had hurt you. Don't blame me when I did nothing." It was true; he did nothing to separate them. Kaito simply expressed interest in a brunette of fierce eyes named Meiko and took whichever useless, distracted replies Len gave when he asked about her. He didn't try to separate them.

After all, it was not his role to manipulate fate to his own gain. He played the game, fair and square, and it was time to take the prize.

"Why...? It shouldn't end so awfully. Why did you do that?"

He repeated, "I did nothing, my darling Miku."

"Liar."

The mist dissipated. The mirror shattered. The flash of light floated above his palm, longing to be held by the right, vengeful hands. Black and white smeared their surroundings, flickers of yellow and teal sparkling hauntingly around them like will-o'-wisps. Strength and the will to retort left her.

Still, he struggled to grab her hand, Miku resisting him viciously. She went quiet the instant his lips touched the smooth skin.

He cooed, "I can't let him hurt you more, sweet Miku. My Miku."

She didn't say a word to deny the claim. Instead her eyes brightened, returned to the green he loved, and she whispered back, "Len... my Len."

 

.

 

.

  
She couldn't love someone as worthless as this.

Not someone who wasn't enough.

He always knew it. Always suspected. Was always, always right. The flash of light glinted and sung in his palm, acting as an extension of his arm. The illusions disappeared. Evaporated. Only broken glass and watery black remained to stain the edge of their kaleidoscope. Monochrome shades to remind them of what was real and what were merely mirages - this kind of love was one of them.

Silently watching was Miku, hugging his left arm tightly and leaning on his shoulder. Her eyes had long dried of any tears. She had nothing more to lament over. No knight, no smiles, no burned love letters. They had returned to reality.

She had come back to him.

Who was real.

Memories of Gumi and the blow of emotions dared to taunt him earlier, but he remembered what he was supposed to do and pushed these useless memories to a forgotten corner of his mind. Grey glimmered, with wrongly placed whites. Struck down like lightning bolts. Just as a knife.

Len whispered, "I did warn you to stay away."

She didn't reply, only slipped her hand in his.

"Let's go home, my Miku."

"Yes, my Len."

Silence sounded louder than anything to his ears. She ran her fingers through the deep blue waves one last time. Nothing vibrated within them as he dropped a half-hearted apology along with the knife in the way back home.

The unwanted blue made his last appearance before everything turned back to monochrome, and he left it to rot alone in bright shades of scarlet.

**Author's Note:**

> written in a single day. in utter silence. how did i manage to write this monster in a day is the question.
> 
> review if that's your thing. thank you for reading. owo


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